Syndicated loan volume in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) for the 2017 calendar year continued to decline, dropping 4.8 per cent to US$445 billion, compared with 2016's US$468 billion. The number of transactions also fell to 1,246 from 1,291 in the previous year, based on Thomson Reuters Asia-Pacific monthly loan market stats. The drop in lending marked the region's third consecutive annual decline after a record US$523bn in 2014, Thomson Reuters analysts noted. "Market activity across most markets in Asia was considerably slower as a result of lacklustre economic growth and lack of sizable event-driven transactions," they wrote.  "Financings for merger and acquisitions activity made up 12.5 per cent of Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) loan volume in 2017, totalling US$55 billion and tumbling 33.8 per cent from 2016's record high of US$84.2 billion thanks to the slowdown in China Inc's overseas acquisitions spree."Notwithstanding the subdued activity from China, the mainland was the biggest contributor to M&A loan volume in Asia Pacific, making up almost 33 per cent of total regional market share, based on Thomson Reuters analysis. This was because of a €6.8 billion (US$7.96 billion) loan for state-owned China Investment Corp's acquisition of European warehouse firm Logicor. The transaction was the largest overall and biggest M&A loan during the year in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan).Issuances in Australasia reached US$90 billion at the end of 2017. This represents a 11.2 per cent increase in volume compared to 2016. Deal flow was also up on the previous year, and reached 245 in 2017, an increase of 62 deals over the 183 reported in 2016.